The Importance of a Rowing Shoe

Would you wear wellingtons to play football, or suit up in flip flops to run a marathon? If you play basketball would you borrow your friend’s size 14 sneakers if you were a size 9? Would you compete in tennis in your school shoes?

This all sounds mad and yet, in most cases, it is exactly what we have done in rowing for a very long time. Hopefully that time is over.

When rowing, we have 3 key connection points, these are the feet, seat and handles of the oar/s of course. The feet are the first contact point in the chain and transfer the highest amount of force into the boat. At rate 30 you only have around 0.4 secs to hit your peak foot force from the catch.

Your peak force, regardless of being male, female, lightweight or heavyweight will easily exceed your own body weight – even at a junior level. The highest peak force at the feet we have ever seen from a junior rower is 155kg, on the ergo of course (there’s a challenge!) Keep in mind that these high peak levels of force may be hit 200-230 times in a race. That’s a huge load going through your feet and shoes into the boat.

What about hygiene? Each foot has in excess of 250,000 sweat glands and can produce up to a cup of sweat per day. Have you ever thought about who has been in the shoes in the boat before you? Have you seen some of your mates’ feet?

Many fungal diseases can be spread through the feet, including Tinea Pedis, the horribly itchy Athlete’s Foot. The rates of fungal infection that can cause Athletes Foot are far higher in damp sporting areas with high use – in some locker rooms as high as 60% of athletes are carrying this bacteria so imagine what the rates in the boat shed are?! If your fellow oars-person has a blister that bleeds well guess what, if you share shoes then your foot is going in that same shoe when you jump into their seat.

There is a lot to feel through the feet as well – the trim of the boat, your feeling of confidence and stability, and the connection to the rest of your body are all so important to rowing well. Just think about how much force is lost and how less connected you are in a shoe that is too big, where your feet slide up when you move to the drive and slip around in the shoes through the drive. Have a think about how this feels the next time you row and then imagine being in a shoe that fits and is sculpted to your foot, created to transfer force and made for rowing!

For all of the above reasons and many more, using your own properly designed rowing shoe, and preferably not sharing any old thing, is key. At Project B, we are very passionate about making equipment for the task at hand, doing it with the best materials, making ease of use a keystone and creating something that looks cool rather than boring and old school.

Our shoes are designed from laser scans of rowers’ feet and foot force data from years of consulting at Olympic institutes, universities and top schools. The full range works seamlessly on their own or can also be combined with the BAT Logic QuickRelease system, that even lets you click your own shoes between seats and boats.

The materials we use at Project B include the best carbon fibre from Bont Cycling’s elite cycling shoes, worn for many Olympic medals, World Champs and even Tour De France wins and uppers that you’d only feel on the best football boots. These are tuned with BAT Logic’s rowing research, analysis and experience to create a shoe that will make the boat faster, make you feel more connected and comfortable, reduce weight and intimidate the opposition on looks alone.

Even our entry level shoes are built to a standard far above many other maker’s top shoes – we want to look after our athletes.

The next time you hit the water, have a think about what you’re about to slip your foot into.

Some of the key things that make our shoes different are;